The internet you use today is not the same network that existed twenty years ago, and the shift happened gradually enough that most people did not notice it happening

The early internet — roughly the 1990s through the early 2000s — was built on the assumption that users would visit many different websites, each one independent and owned by someone else. You would type a web address into your browser, wait for the page to load, read it, and move on. Most websites were made by individuals or small teams. The companies that ran the infrastructure — your internet service provider, the companies that owned the cables and routers — were separate from the websites you visited.

Today, a handful of very large companies control both the infrastructure and the websites you spend time on. Google, Meta (Facebook and Instagram), Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft now own or operate the services most people use every day. The shift happened because these companies were better at building things people wanted to use, and because they had the money to buy out competitors. But the result is that the internet now works differently at a fundamental level.

Key Takeaways

  • The early internet was built around independent websites you would visit one at a time; today it is built around a few large platforms that track you across the web.
  • Your internet service provider used to be separate from the websites you visited, but now the same companies often control both the pipes and the destinations.
  • Advertising became the primary business model for most websites, which changed how content is made and what you see.
  • Mobile phones replaced desktop computers as the primary way most people access the internet, which changed what kinds of services became popular.
  • The technical standards that run the internet are still open, but the practical experience of using it is now controlled by a small number of companies.

How the business model shifted from subscriptions to advertising

In the 1990s, most websites charged money to use them. You would pay a monthly fee to AOL or CompuServe to access the internet at all. Individual websites also charged subscriptions — you paid to read the newspaper online, or to use a service. This meant websites made money from their users directly, so they had an incentive to make something people actually wanted to pay for.

Google changed this in the early 2000s by proving that you could make far more money from advertising than from subscriptions. Google's search engine was free to use, but Google sold ads to companies that wanted to appear when people searched for their products. This worked so well that Google became one of the most valuable companies in the world. Every other website looked at this and realized they could make more money by being free and showing ads than by charging users directly.

This shift changed what the internet rewards. A website that charges money needs to be useful enough that people will pay. A website that shows ads needs to keep you on the page as long as possible, because the longer you stay, the more ads you see. This is why social media platforms — Facebook, TikTok, YouTube — became so dominant. They are extremely good at keeping you scrolling. A newspaper website that charges money has an incentive to write important stories. A newspaper website that shows ads has an incentive to write stories that make you angry or curious enough to click.

Why a few large companies now control most of what you see

In the early internet, there were thousands of search engines, email providers, and social networks. Most of them are gone now. Google won the search engine wars. Gmail won the email wars. Facebook won the social network wars. This happened partly because these companies were genuinely better at what they did, but also because of network effects — once most people were using one service, it became harder to switch to another.

These companies also bought their competitors. Facebook bought Instagram and WhatsApp. Google bought YouTube. Amazon bought Whole Foods. Each acquisition made these companies larger and more powerful. Regulators in some countries have started to question whether these companies have too much power, but the consolidation has already happened.

The result is that most of what you do on the internet now flows through one of five companies. When you search, you use Google. When you watch videos, you use YouTube (owned by Google). When you use social media, you probably use Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok. When you buy things online, you probably use Amazon. When you use email or a computer, you probably use Microsoft or Google. These companies know what you search for, what you watch, what you buy, and who you talk to. They use this information to sell ads, and also to influence what you see.

How tracking became the default way websites work

The early internet did not track you across websites. When you visited a website, that website could see what you did on its own pages, but it could not see what you did on other websites. This changed when advertising networks realized they could follow you from site to site using small files called cookies and tracking pixels.

Today, most websites contain code from Google, Facebook, or other advertising networks. This code watches what you do on that website and reports back to the advertising network. The advertising network then knows that you visited a website about, say, running shoes. Later, when you visit a completely different website, the same advertising network shows you an ad for running shoes. You are being followed across the internet without your knowledge or consent.

This tracking is now so widespread that it is nearly impossible to avoid without using special tools. Some browsers and privacy settings can block some of it, but the tracking networks are constantly finding new ways around these protections. The European Union passed a law called GDPR that requires websites to ask for permission before tracking you, but in the United States there is no such requirement.

Why mobile phones changed what the internet became

The early internet was designed for desktop computers with large screens and keyboards. When the iPhone arrived in 2007, it was not clear whether the mobile internet would ever be as useful as the desktop internet. Today, most people access the internet primarily through their phones, and this shift changed which services became dominant.

Services that work well on a small screen with a touchscreen interface became more popular than services that required a keyboard and mouse. This is why TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat became so dominant — they were built for phones from the start. It is also why email and web browsers became less central to how people use the internet. Instead of opening a browser and typing a web address, most people now open apps.

Apps are different from websites in an important way: the company that makes the app controls what you can do with it much more completely than they control a website. Apple and Google, which make the operating systems that run phones, can remove apps from their app stores, and they can require apps to follow their rules. This gives Apple and Google even more power over what happens on the internet.

What stayed the same: the technical standards underneath

Despite all these changes, the underlying technical standards that run the internet are still mostly open and free. The protocols that let computers talk to each other — TCP/IP, HTTP, DNS — are still maintained by non-profit organizations and are available for anyone to use. You can still build a website and put it on the internet without asking permission from Google or Facebook.

But the practical experience of using the internet is now controlled by a small number of companies. Even if the technical standards are open, most people access the internet through services owned by Google, Apple, Amazon, Meta, or Microsoft. These companies set the rules for what you can do, what you can see, and what information they collect about you.

This is the central tension in the modern internet: the underlying technology is still open and decentralized, but the services that most people actually use are closed and centralized. You can build your own website, but most people will never find it because they use Google to search and Google decides what to show them. You can send email to anyone, but most people use Gmail, and Google reads your email to show you ads.

Why some people are trying to build a different internet

Because of these changes, some technologists and privacy advocates have started building alternatives. These alternatives go by names like the "decentralized web" or "Web3," though these terms mean different things to different people.

Some alternatives focus on privacy: services like DuckDuckGo (a search engine that does not track you) or ProtonMail (an email service that encrypts your messages). These services work like the old internet — you pay money or accept ads, but they do not track you across the web. They are smaller and less convenient than Google or Gmail, but they do not collect as much information about you.

Other alternatives focus on decentralization: services built on blockchain technology or peer-to-peer networks that do not require a central company to run them. These are still experimental and mostly used by people who are very interested in technology. It is not clear whether they will ever become as popular as the centralized services that dominate today.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the internet actually getting worse, or am I just noticing it more?

Both things are true. The internet has genuinely changed — it is now more centralized, more tracked, and more ad-filled than it was twenty years ago. But you are also more aware of it now because you use the internet more, and because privacy and tech criticism have become more visible in the news.

Can I use the internet without being tracked?

You can reduce tracking significantly by using a privacy-focused browser like Firefox or Brave, by using a VPN, and by disabling cookies in your browser settings. You cannot eliminate it entirely without cutting yourself off from most websites, but you can make it much harder for advertising networks to follow you.

Why do these big companies have so much power?

They have power because most people use their services, and because they own the infrastructure that runs the internet. Regulators are starting to question this power, but breaking up these companies or forcing them to change would require new laws, and those laws do not exist yet in most countries.

Will the internet ever go back to how it was?

Probably not. The centralization happened because these companies genuinely built better services than their competitors, and because network effects make it hard to switch once everyone is using one service. The internet might change in other ways — toward more privacy, or toward decentralized services — but it is unlikely to return to the fragmented landscape of the 1990s.

What should I do about all this?

You can use privacy-focused tools like DuckDuckGo or ProtonMail if you want to reduce tracking. You can also support regulation by contacting your elected representatives if you think these companies have too much power. But the most practical thing most people can do is understand how these companies make money and what information they collect, so you can make informed choices about which services to use.